Happy Mother's Day.

I have to wish my Mom and my Mother-in-law a very Happy Mother's day. I was very fortunate to have such a wonderful and fabulous mom, who cares for me beyond imaginable. Then I was blessed to gain a wonderful Mother-in-law almost 7 years ago. I could not ask for a better one. I was again blessed to gain a fabulous Step Mom who has brought happiness again to my Dad. And then there is Grandma Vickie who has been like a mom to me, helping out my family any way she can. I love all of these Moms with all my heart and am truly blessed to have them in my life and my family's life. I have to send a greeting out to all of my sisters wishing them a wonderful day as well. My sister Holly became a Mom very young but has proven over the last 6 years that she is a great mom and deserves this title. My sister Saralyn is not a Mom yet but hopefully will be soon one day, but she has been like a second Mom to my girls their whole lives but especially the last few months. And to my sister-in-law's Ashely and Jessica for bringing wonderful boys to our family and being great mom's to them. I have not been able to be the "normal" mom my girls are used to, so thank you to all my "Moms" for the overwhelming help they all have been. I am so blessed to be a mom myself to 4 beautiful children. Becoming a mom has not come easy for me, struggling through a miscarriage, infertility, death of a child, and then nearly dying trying to get my last one here. I would not trade any of it for anything. I know I was meant to be a mom, just never thought it would be so hard. I have to thank my Mom for raising me to be a great mom. Mother's are true gifts from heaven and I'm glad to be one. Happy Mother's Day to everyone that is a Mother or some day will be.

Happy Birthday!!

I have to wish my sister Saralyn a Happy birthday. You are the best sister anyone could ask for. You have done so much for me and my family and there will be no way I could ever repay you. My girls think the world of you and so do I, and I am so grateful that they have you in their lives. Thank you for everything. I love you. Hope you have a wonderful day.

Also I have to wish my brother-in-law Nate a Happy birthday. Thank you for coming in to my sister Holly's life, you have been a true blessing that this family needed. We love you and thank you for everything. Hope you have a good Birthday as well.

Happy Birthday and We're home!!

I have to start out wishing my Mom a Happy Birthday. I love you mom and want to thank you for everything you have done for us. You have been a HUGE blessing and a HUGE help my whole life but especially the last few months. Thank you, thank you mom. I truly love you and hope you have a wonderful birthday.
On another note, We are home, well Gavin is at least. We are adjusting to life on his schedule. I am super exhausted but he is so worth it. Madalyn was so excited to see her brother and hold him for the first time, she has not wanted to let him out of her site. Olivia has just had a hard day today, she woke up from a nap a bit cranky so seeing "that baby" at first was not good. She just cried and wanted to be held. When she quit being so upset she did give him kisses. So life here will be hectic for the next few months but we will hopefully be okay. I will post pics tomorrow.

Home?

It's official we get to "room in" tonight and Gavin will be home tomorrow. Yeah. Unless something goes wrong, which it won't we will finally have our boy home. The nurses want him to stay longer and sometimes I think i do to, this is a whole new ball game for us. But we know he is meant to be here so bring it on. He has been there by far the longest out of any of the babies left in the NICU, so we have become very attached to the nurses there and will miss them. But we are ready for this next step.

Wednesday

Gavin is so close to coming home. If all goes well today they will let him come home on Wednesday. He was circumcised last night. Poor thing. The nurse said he did really well and did not cry. If he gets to come home on Wed., we will have a sleepover at the hospital tonight. They call it a "room in". He will be coming home on Caffeine for sure and possible oxygen so they will be sending him home on an apnea monitor, when we sleep over they will be teaching us all about the machines and what to watch for and listen for. I am so excited but so nervous, sometimes I feel like a first time mom and I hate that because I think I should know all this stuff, I have taken care of 2 other babies. But I know things are a little different this time, but still. I never imagined that we would have a boy and all the circumstances surrounded by his birth but I can truly say that the love I have for him and for my 3 girls is more than I ever thought possible. I don't know what I would do with out any of my kids in my life. I know my Chloe was watching over me and her little brother that day and I hate that she can not be with us now, but I know she is the reason we are both still here. I miss you baby girl and thank you for protecting your brother. Now all you have to do is keep your mommy "sane" for the next 18 years. Once we have Gavin home and settled I will try to keep you updated on him being home.

1 month, 1 week and 1 day old.

Gavin is still off oxygen and doing ok. He is now 5 lbs 13 oz and for the last few feedings has been eating around 85cc, like a a bottle and a half. He has been desating a few times but considering he is breathing room air, we say that's pretty good. He may have to go back on it but that;s ok cause they will still let him come home. They are just trying to see how well he can breath with out oxygen. The nurses keep telling us that they think he will be ready to come home sometime next week. We are so ready for him to be be home.

Update and pics of Gavin

OMG!!(gosh) Isn't he edible?

Oh no, get back here.

Oh Mommy, I'm so tired.

All nice and bundled after my bath.

Hurry bundle me up!!

Need I say anything??? Precious.

Mommy getting my bath ready.

Gavin is 5lbs 11 oz today. He is doing so good and was able to have his oxygen tube out as of 8am this morning. Oh my gosh I was so excited to finally see my baby's face with out all the tubes. He more handsome than I ever thought. He had some tests done and it looks like everything came out good. We are still trying to get the hang of breast feeding but he did really good tonight for a while and then got too tired and started getting frustrated so we went to the bottle. They did the numogram 2 nights ago and decided to switch the formula he was having to an acid reducing one to help with the acid reflux and it seems to help, although he love the breast milk this is helping with the acid. I was able to give him a bath tonight(my first time) and he seemed to like it. He still has his leads on so it was still a littel awkward bathing him with those on his chest but I think we did alright. Our little guy is well on his way to coming home. Things will be very hectic and crazy for a few weeks after he is home because the Doctors and Nurses recommend not taking him out anywhere, so if you want to see him you will have to come to the house. If you or your kids are sick we will have to ask that you wait to see him till things are better. I know this will be hard on all of us, but we know that in order to protect him from getting sick we will have to miss out on alot of things and Chris and I will have to take turns going to events. It will be ok and we will do what we need to. He is a blessing and is meant to be here.